Broadcasting and communication receiver apparatus

ABSTRACT

A digital receiver to effect display of at least one of video or a plurality of background information blocks each indicative of a program time period, including: a display change controller provided in the digital receiver, which changes a displayed shape of a particular background information block indicative of a program time period in the grid when the program time period indicated by the particular background information block exceeds a program time period which is displayed in a first prescribed zone; a full display controller controlling display of the program start time and program end time to occur concurrently together with the selected background information block on a same display whenever the selected background information block is selected.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/773,307, filedFeb. 9, 2004, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/418,822, filed Oct. 15, 1999, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 08/844,431 filed Apr. 18, 1997 (now U.S. Pat. No.6,037,995). This application relates to and claims priority fromJapanese Patent Application No. 8-097993, filed on Apr. 19, 1996. Theentirety of the contents and subject matter of all of the above isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a broadcasting and communicationreceiver apparatus which receives information about a transmissionprogram together with video and audio data, decodes and displays theprogram-associated data and more particularly, to a receiver apparatuswhich can display program-associated information.

In a prior art television signal receiver apparatus, program informationsuch as the title, start and end times of a broadcasting program has notbeen transmitted together with video and/or audio signal and thus it hasbeen impossible to display these information on a television displayscreen. For this reason, TV viewers have acquired these information froma program schedule chart run in newspaper.

Further, digital broadcasting has been being started in which digitizedsignals in place of conventional analog TV signals are transmitted toeach home via satellite, cable or land-based broadcasting. Satellitebroadcasting has been already realized in such a manner and, even inJapan, plans have been already in the works for start of such service.In the digital broadcasting, various sorts of additional information canbe transmitted simultaneously with digitized video and audio signals.When such additional information can be used to prepare a programschedule chart.

Meanwhile, even in the conventional analog broadcasting, when such asystem is employed that program-associated information is multiplexedduring vertical blanking interval, a program chart similar to that inthe digital broadcasting case can be prepared.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multiplex system of an analogbroadcasting type, in which S_(A) denotes an audio signal, S_(V) a videosignal, S_(P) program-associated information such as a title, start andend times of a broadcasting program. Reference number 1 denotes amultiplexer for multiplexing the video signal S_(V) and theprogram-associated information S_(P), numeral 2 denotes a modulator formodulating the video signal S_(V) and the audio signal S_(A) intobroadcasting electromagnetic wave.

In the analog broadcasting system, there is employed a method formultiplexing the program-associated information S_(P) during thevertical blanking interval. However, the amount of information capableof multiplexing during the vertical blanking interval is small whencompared with the amount of information transmittable in the digitalbroadcasting system. In the analog broadcasting system, further, withrespect to its screen displaying function, its screen displaying abilityas well as the amount of information to be handled are restricted.Therefore, the display screen implemented based on the analogbroadcasting system is inferior in presentation ability to that based onthe digital broadcasting system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a multiplex system of a digitalbroadcasting type, in which reference symbols 3 _(A), 3 _(B) and 3 _(P)denote encoders for encoding the audio and video signals andprogram-associated information respectively. In the digital broadcastingsystem, the audio signal S_(A), video signal S_(V) andprogram-associated information S_(P) are encoded and compressedrespectively by the encoders 3 _(A), 3 _(B) and 3 _(P), and thensubjected by the multiplexer 1 to a time division multiplexing operationto obtain a multiplexed signal. The multiplexed signal is modulated bythe modulator 2 into broadcasting electromagnetic wave.

The digital broadcasting system is featured in that, since theprogram-associated information S_(P) is encoded and compressed by theencoder 3 _(P), more signals can be multiplexed than theprogram-associated information multiplexable in the analog broadcastingsystem.

When it is desired to display such program-associated information asprogram chart on a predetermined display zone of a display screen, e.g.,a television display screen, if a display zone necessary for fulldisplay of all the display data is larger than the predetermined displayzone, then all the display data cannot be fully displayed on the limiteddisplay zone. For this reason, there disadvantageously occurs such asituation that part of the originally-displayable information ismissing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a major object of the present invention to display theentire display data on specific information selected by a viewer or toadd an information correcting display when the display data is missingto thereby allow the information of the display data to be presentedwithin a limited display zone of a display screen.

Another object of the present invention is to eliminate the need fornewspapers and magazines carrying program-associated information.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provideda broadcasting and communication receiver apparatus which comprises areceiver means for receiving at least program-associated informationincluding title, start and end times of a broadcast program togetherwith a video signal and a audio signal; a decoder means for decoding theprogram-associated information from the received signal; a screendisplay means for processing and displaying the decodedprogram-associated information on a display screen; a command receivermeans for receiving an input signal from a remote controller or from akey or keys provided to a main body of the receiver apparatus; and adisplay controller means for controlling the display screen based on theinput signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multiplex system of an analogbroadcasting type;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a multiplex system of a digitalbroadcasting type;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a broadcasting and communication receiverapparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is an example of a display screen for display ofprogram-associated information for explaining the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a first example of the program-associated information displayscreen in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a second example of the program-associated information displayscreen in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a broadcasting and communication receiverapparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a third example of a display screen for display ofprogram-associated information in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a fourth example of the program-associated information displayscreen in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a broadcasting and communication receiverapparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,which includes an input terminal 101 for input of broadcasting andcommunication signals from an external antenna or the like, a separatoror demultiplexer 102 for extracting any one of video and audio signalsand program-associated information signal from the received signal, aA/V decoder 103 for decoding the video and audio signals to reproduceoriginal image and original audio, an image multiplexer 104 formultiplexing the video signal and such graphics as characters, atelevision display 105, a command receiver 106 for receiving a userinput, an information decoder 107 for decoding the transmittedprogram-associated information, a program-associated information buffer108 for holding therein the decoded program-associated information, acontrol micro-computer 110 containing the above elements 106 to 109, aninput data amount calculator 111 for calculating the amount of displaydata received from the information buffer, displayable-data amountcalculator 113 for calculating the number of character rows capable ofbeing displayed on the display screen, a comparator 112 for comparingthe amount of input data with the amount of displayable data, a displaydata setter 114 for setting character rows to be displayed, and adisplay controller 109 containing the above elements 111 to 114 forcontrolling the image multiplexer. Further included in the broadcastingand communication receiver apparatus are a receiver 118 for receivingbroadcasting and communication signals and a decoder 119 for decodingthe received signals.

In FIG. 3, a signal applied to the input terminal 101 is sent to thedemultiplexer 102 through the receiver 118 and decoder 119. Thedemultiplexer 102 extracts video and audio signals from the receivedsignal and sends them to the A/V decoder 103. Similarly, thedemultiplexer 102 also extracts program-associated information from thereceived signal and sends it to the information decoder 107 of thecontrol micro-computer 110. Program-associated information decoded bythe information decoder 107 is sent to the program-associatedinformation buffer 108.

When a signal indicative of a request of displaying theprogram-associated information is input to the command receiver 106, theprogram-associated information held in the program-associatedinformation buffer 108 is sent to the input data amount calculator 111of the display controller 109. The comparator 112 of the displaycontroller 109 compares the number of character rows calculated by theinput data amount calculator 111 with the number of displayablecharacter rows calculated by the displayable-data amount calculator 113,and sends its comparison result and the input data to the display datasetter 114 for setting of the display characters. The display controller109 controls the image multiplexer 104 in such a manner that the imagemultiplexer 104 multiplexes the display data received from the displaydata setter 114 and the video signal received from the A/V decoder 103and displays it on the television display 105.

When the number of character rows of the input data is larger than thenumber of displayable character rows, the display data setter 114 sendsas display data to the image multiplexer 104 the displayable characterrows of the input data with a symbol indicative of omission added to thetail of last one of the character rows thereof.

Shown in FIG. 4 is an example of a display screen for display ofprogram-associated information for explaining the present invention, inwhich reference numeral 201 denotes a program start time, numeral 202denotes a program end time, and 203 denotes a program title. In theexample of the program-associated information display screen of FIG. 4,the start and end times 201 and 202 and title 203 of the program arearranged in a row to express its program broadcasting schedule, but adisplay zone for displaying the program title 203 is too narrow todisplay all the program title 203 on the screen until its very end.

In particular, when the system is required to express in Japanese(Kanji), it is necessary to make large the size of Kanji characters forits expression, which results in that the number of character rowsdisplayable within the display zone is decreased and thus all thedisplay data cannot be fully displayed.

FIG. 5 is a first example of the program-associated information displayscreen in FIG. 3. In FIG. 5, numeral 301 denotes an omission symbolindicative of the fact that a tail part of the display data is omitted.

In the case of the program-associated information display screen of FIG.4, it is impossible to judge whether the display data such as theprogram title is fully displayed to its very end or displayablecharacter rows alone of the display data are displayed. In the case ofthe program-associated information display screen of FIG. 5, on theother hand, when displayable character rows alone of the display dataare displayed, the omission symbol 301 indicative of omission of thetail part of the display data is attached to the last tail of thedisplay character row, whereby a viewer can clearly know it. Although “. . . ” has been employed as the omission symbol in theprogram-associated information data screen of FIG. 5, another suitablesymbol may be used as necessary. Further, contents to be displayed isnot limited to such program-associated information as the program starttime 201, program end time 202 and program title 203, but otherinformation may be allowed.

FIG. 6 shows a second example of the program-associated informationdisplay screen in FIG. 3, in which numeral 401 denotes a first displayzone made up of n program display areas 401 ₁, 401 ₂, . . . , 401_(n-1), and 401 _(n), 402 denotes a second display zone, 403 denotes acursor for selecting either one of the n program display areas 401 ₁,401 ₂, . . . , 401 _(n-1) in the first display zone, and 404 denotes adisplay zone in which a plurality (1, . . . , and n) of the firstdisplay zones 401 are arranged.

Displayed on the first display zone 401 is at least part of display dataincluding program title. Displayed on the second display zone 402 arethe same display data including program titles as displayed on the firstdisplay zone 401 fully without any omission. The cursor 403, in responseto a user input signal, selects desired one of the n program displayareas in the first display zone 401. In this way, since the operation ofthe cursor 403 causes the user to arbitrarily select the specific firstdisplay zone 401 (for example, 4011) from the first display zone 401arranged in the alternative display zone 404, all the display dataincluding program title required by the user can be fully displayedwithout any omission.

Since only the display data required by the user are displayed withoutany omission on-the second display zone 402 and display data aredisplayed with an omission symbol on the first display zone 401; morefirst display zones can be displayed within the alternative display zone404.

Turning to FIG. 7, there is shown a block diagram of a broadcasting andcommunication receiver apparatus in accordance with a second embodimentof the present invention, which includes a time informationdiscriminator 115 for discriminating time information of input data, adisplay time band setter 117 for setting a time band of a program chartto be displayed on the display screen, and a time information comparator116 for comparing the time information of the input data with the timeband of the program chart. Other constituent elements are the same asthose in FIG. 3.

When a signal indicative of a request of displaying program-associatedinformation on the display screen is input to the command receiver 106,the program-associated information hold in the program-associatedinformation buffer 108 is sent therefrom to the time informationdiscriminator 115 of the display controller 109, The time informationcomparator 116 of the-display controller 109 compares the timeinformation discriminated by the time information discriminator 115 withthe display time band set by the display time band setter 117, and sendsits comparison result and the input data to the display data setter 114where their display format is set. The display controller 109 controlsthe image multiplexer 104 and composes the display data received fromthe display data setter and the video signal received from the A/Vdecoder 103 to display it on the television display 105.

The above program-associated information display screen has such adisplay format that uses at least character string in each informationfield and background, that is, shows such a program chart indicative ofprogram broadcasting schedule that a program start time is given at theleft end of each program name field and a program end time is given atthe right end of each information field.

When the time information of the input data is judged to be out of adisplay time band range, the display data setter 114 modifies the shapeof the left or right end of the display data and sends it to the imagemultiplexer 104. The display data setter 114 modifies the shape of theleft or right end of the program name field to clearly indicate that thestart or end time of the program is located out of the time band rangeof the program chart being displayed.

FIG. 8 shows a third example of the program-associated informationdisplay screen in FIG. 7, which includes a channel number column 501, atime scale column 502, first program name display column 503 indicativeof n-channel program display zones 503 ₁, 503 ₂, . . . 503 _(n-1) and503 _(n), a second program name display column 504, a continuationdisplay pattern 505 indicative of the fact that a program broadcaststart or end time is located out of the program chart being displayed,and a program name alternative column 506 in which a plurality (n=l, . .. ) of the first program name display columns 503 are arranged.

In the program display screen, abscissa denotes time, a display startposition of the first program name display column 503 in the horizontaldirection indicates a broadcast start time, and its horizontal lengthindicates a program broadcast duration. A measure of time is expressedin the time scale column 502.

Further, ordinate indicates broadcast channel. Displayed on the channelnumber column 501 are channel numbers of broadcasting stations, names orlogo marks of the broadcasting stations.

The user operates the cursor 403 using a remote controller or a key orkeys provided on the main body of the receiver apparatus to select oneof the first program name display columns 503 ₁, 503 ₂, . . . and 503_(n) displayed within the program name alternative column 506. Theselected first program name display column 503 is also displayed in thesecond program name display column 504. More specifically, at least partof the program title is displayed on the first program name displaycolumn 503, whereas, all the program title is wholly displayed withoutany omission on the second program name display column 504.

The broadcast start time, broadcast duration or broadcast end time of aprogram is expressed based on a measure of a time displayed in the timescale column 502. However, when the program broadcast duration is longerthan a duration expressible on the program chart screen or when theprogram broadcast star or end time is located out of the time bandexpressed in the program chart being displayed, it is impossible toexpress the program broadcast start or end time within the program chartdisplay screen. For the purpose of expressing that the programbroadcasting starts with a time earlier than the time band beingdisplayed or that the program broadcasting ends in a time later than thetime band being displayed; the continuation display pattern 505 is used.

By using the continuation display pattern 505, when the broadcastduration is overlapped as located ahead or behind the time band beingdisplayed, it is possible to express that the broadcast start or endtime is out of the time band being displayed.

Shown in FIG. 9 is a fourth example of the program-associatedinformation display screen in FIG. 7, which includes a third timeinformation display column 601.

On the program display screen, the third time information display column601 is provided within the program-associated information display screento express therein broadcast start and end times of a program.Therefore, when the program broadcast duration is longer than a durationdisplayable on the program display screen so that the program broadcaststart or time cannot be expressed within the time scale column 502 ofthe program chart screen; it is possible to clearly display thebroadcast start and end times, i.e., the time information of thereceived program-associated information without any omission.

The time information display column 601 may be an independent displayzone or may be provided within the second program name display column504 to be expressed together with the program title.

Although explanation has been made in connection with the programdisplay screen based on the digital broadcasting system in the presentembodiment, the present invention is not limited to the specific digitalbroadcasting system but may be applied to such a broadcasting systemthat the program-associated information is transmitted as multiplexed tothe conventional analog television broadcasting system. Further, thepresent invention is not restricted to the program chart display screenbut may be applied to other general display one.

In accordance with the present invention, there can be provided, when itis desired to display information associated with an item selectedcondition, a program-associated information display screen of abroadcasting and communication receiver apparatus, on which all displaydata of the program-associated information received by the receiverapparatus are fully displayed without any omission.

Further, the user can eliminate the need for purchasing newspapers ormagazines-carrying the program-associated information.

1. A digital receiver to effect display of at least one of video or aplurality of background information blocks each indicative of a programtime period, comprising: a receiver provided in the digital receiver,which receives video program and program information including a titleand time information of a video program; a video decoder provided in thedigital receiver, which decodes the received video program; aninformation decoder provided in the digital receiver, which decodes thereceived program information; a menu-grid display controller provided inthe digital receiver, to effect display of a menu of at least presentand future programs for a plurality of channels in a grid; a displaychange controller provided in the digital receiver, which changes adisplayed shape of a particular background information block indicativeof a program time period in the grid when the program time periodindicated by the particular background information block exceeds aprogram time period which is displayed in a first prescribed zone; afull display controller provided in the digital receiver, to controldisplay, in a second prescribed zone, of a program start time and aprogram end time of a program of a selected background information blockwhose background information block is changed in shape in the firstprescribed zone by the display change controller, wherein the fulldisplay controller controlling display of the program start time andprogram end time to occur concurrently together with the selectedbackground information block on a same display whenever the selectedbackground information block is selected; and an outputter provided inthe digital receiver, which outputs the character information generatedby the menu-grid display controller, the display change controller andthe full display controller.
 2. A digital receiver according to claim 1,wherein the display change controller has a comparator to compare thetime information of a program with a time band to be displayed in thefirst prescribed zone.
 3. A digital receiver according to claim 1,comprising: a multiplexer provided in the digital receiver, whichmultiplexes the decoded video program and the character information ofprograms.
 4. A system comprising: a digital receiver to effect displayof at least one of video or a plurality of background information blockseach indicative of a program time period, including: a receiver providedin the digital receiver, which receives video program and programinformation including a title and time information of a video program; avideo decoder provided in the digital receiver, which decodes thereceived video program; an information decoder provided in the digitalreceiver, which decodes the received program information; a menu-griddisplay controller provided in the digital receiver, to effect displayof a menu of at least present and future programs for a plurality ofchannels in a grid; a display change controller provided in the digitalreceiver, which changes a displayed shape of a particular backgroundinformation block indicative of a program time period in the grid whenthe program time period indicated by the particular backgroundinformation block exceeds a program time period which is displayed in afirst prescribed zone; a full display controller provided in the digitalreceiver, to control display, in a second prescribed zone, of a programstart time and a program end time of a program of a selected particularbackground information block whose background information block ischanged in shape in the first prescribed zone by the display changecontroller, wherein the full display controller controlling display ofthe program start time and program end time to occur concurrentlytogether with the selected particular background information block on asame display whenever the selected particular background informationblock is selected; an outputter provided in the digital receiver, whichoutputs the character information generated by the menu-grid displaycontroller, the display change controller and the full displaycontroller: and, a television display unit provided in the digitalreceiver, to receive an output from the video decoder and outputter todisplay the at least one of video program or character information ofprograms.
 5. A system according to claim 4, wherein the display changecontroller has a comparator to compare the time information of a programwith a time band to be displayed in the first prescribed zone.
 6. Asystem according to claim 4, comprising: a multiplexer provided in thedigital receiver, which multiplexes the decoded video program and thecharacter information of programs.